PUP failed because I didn't run: Palmer

Clive Palmer has signalled the death of his party, indicating it won't survive without him standing as a candidate.

The Palmer United Party (PUP) has so far secured only 0.19 per cent of the national vote for the Senate and a mere 307 votes in the Townsville-based electorate of Herbert, the only lower-house seat the party ran in.

That's despite Mr Palmer being elected to the lower house in 2013 and the party having three senators following the 2014 WA re-election.

Mr Palmer said PUP performed so poorly because he didn't stand as a candidate.

"People who were voting for us have said: `Well, Clive's no longer there. I'm not prepared to vote for them because they haven't got him there. I don't know what they're about'," he told AAP on Monday.

Mr Palmer has repeatedly said he didn't want to recontest his seat or a Senate spot because he wanted to spend more time with family and focus on his business interests.

However, he was unlikely to be re-elected anyway, given voter dissatisfaction in his electorate of Fairfax and the fallout from the collapse of his Queensland Nickel refinery near Townsville.